incredible images... I always love looking at pictures because a photo speaks or says thousands words... Plus now is connecting images with physical geography, it gives a more clear view of the region and its' people. good job for Jon Rafman... I love his work

"Most state borders were drawn centuries ago, long before the country was fully settled, and often the lines were drawn somewhat arbitrarily, to coincide with topography or latitude and longitude lines that today have little to do with population numbers. Most state borders were drawn centuries ago, long before the country was fully settled, and often the lines were drawn somewhat arbitrarily, to coincide with topography or latitude and longitude lines that today have little to do with population numbers."

This shows that mmcdonals is a global industy . there are many mcdonalds everywhere they put a spin oncertain diishes to match their heritage like in japan instead of hamburger meat like we americans use the use crabs.It just really shows how far mcdonalds was changed from just starting in america to being featured all over the globe

I've lived and traveled to a few places especially Asia. I've had the Ramen at McD's in Hawaii along with the Portugeuse sausage that comes with the big breakfast. I've also experienced Japanese McD's. It was nice to be able to find some of the regular food like a burger and fry at any McD's in the world, but I never ordered anything else.

I haven't been to a lot of United States. I have been to Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina & South Carolina. As we can see, I pretty much know New England pretty well. I would however, like to travel throughout the west side of the United States.

"Did you know that Swedish has more in common with Hindi than it does with Finnish? Explaining everything within the limits of the world is probably too ambitious a goal for a list like this. But here are 23 maps and charts that can hopefully illuminate small aspects of how we manage to communicate with one another."

This article links with Unit Three through "language and communication". These 23 maps range from the history of languages, which languages connect with which, common languages in certain places, different phrases used in the same country for the same thing, and more. Looking at maps to spatially see language helps when trying to understand how the world communicates. One of the maps that I found interesting was the "New York tweets by language". It shows how diverse that city is, and how people are still preserving their native language in a English prominent country.

Shows how many languages are actually closely related. Whether or not they sound the same or are located in similar regions, many share the same origins. For example: many words in Spanish and English are the same due to their similar roots.

Today these are still people who are racist in a way towards people of color, a sentence in this article states "people of color — were inherently less intelligent than northern Europeans with light-colored skin." Thinking that someone is less intelligent because of the skin color is very rude and unintelligent in a way.

This article is describing how Africa is believed to be dirty, so that is how the Ebola virus was brought to the United States. A group of scientists proved that this is invalid. Ebola is caused by bushmeat and there is no chance of bush meat smuggling could bring Ebola to America. The whole Ebola case goes to show that Africa is still seen as dirty and unsanitary. This article is not focused primarily on Ebola but how the case showed how Africa is viewed in others eyes.

It's time to change our views on the "Dark Continent" known as Africa. Time to slow down the knee jerk reaction to newsworthy stories emanating from this geographical area. This is overt racism at its core. Africa as we learned in class last week has five of the top ten growing economies in the world. How can we help this continent thrive economically if we have so many preconceived notions of what this place is all about?

"Bushmeat" is just another acronym that is contextually manipulated to give inaccurate information and to sell print. As the author states, just call it game as most of the free world acknowledges it. Africa is a rich country with multiple heritages albeit with a long history of repression and fractured civilizations. It's time we pay them back with financial support via The World Bank, and start to change our distorted views of this area. It's abundant natural resources are just waiting to be harvested, which when allocated morally correctly will bring this impoverished continent out of the Third World and into sustainability for its peoples.

"By 2050, the world's population will likely increase 35 percent. But is growing more food the only option—or even the best? National Geographic investigates the challenges and solutions to feeding everyone on our planet, based on an eight-month series in National Geographic magazine. Visit http://natgeofood.com for ongoing coverage of food issues as we investigate the Future of Food today on World Food Day."

Population increase is just part of the story. How do we feed everyone? How will we provide for the needs of everyone? Can the earth sustain the use of her resources and the impact of our growing needs and output. First we must eat. Can we learn to do that wisely?

This video was about the growing population in the world and as a result the growing food demand. This video points out that even though more food production seems like the solution, instead other solutions are more logical. Solutions include reducing wastes, preserving forests, being more productive on current farms and more. It states that farming is a huge business but it goes towards more than growing food for people to eat but also for other things like animals and materials. The worlds population is growing and there needs to be a change in food industries to keep thriving.

This relates to unit 2 about population since it is thinking of ways to adapt to the worlds growing population. By 2050 it is predicted that population will increase by 33% and something has to change about food in order for people to stay fed. There is too much food being wasted that if that could be decreased it could make a huge difference. The video made a good point that it's not that we need more food it's that we need to manage and prioritize production.

"When linguists talk about the historical relationship between languages, they use a tree metaphor. An ancient source (say, Indo-European) has various branches (e.g., Romance, Germanic), which themselves have branches (West Germanic, North Germanic), which feed into specific languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian). Minna Sundberg, creator of the webcomic Stand Still. Stay Silent, a story set in a lushly imagined post-apocalyptic Nordic world, has drawn the antidote to the boring linguistic tree diagram."

The image shows how many languages are related and have many common ancestors. Languages are grouped into language families and are even more broadly categorized.

Language is a huge part of culture and it is the way that people communicate amongst each other. There are hundreds of languages in our world, but as globalization and pop culture diffuse many languages are being lost and no longer spoken. A good example of a dead language would be Latin. Many of our common day languages trace their roots back to Latin, but no one speaks Latin anymore.

This falls under the category of language because it shows the origin, relationship, diffusion, and geography of different religions. It can also be used to tell how specific words originated by knowing the language it branched from.

"The Southerners were considerably more certain of which states are their own. While the top few Midwest states barely pulled 80 percent of the vote, nearly 90 percent of respondents identified Georgia and Alabama as Southern, and more than 80 percent placed Mississippi and Louisiana in the South. South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina all garnered above 60 percent."

When I think about the South, I do so in terms of culture. The "southern life style" that I have is extremely warped by being a resident of New England for so long. But when I consider what the South is I usually include the south eastern states until the top portion of Florida. As well as Virginia, Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Eastern Texas. Although Texas seems like it would be the quintessential example of the South, much of the state has a Latin influence that I do not associate with Southern culture.

When I think of states that constitute as being a part of southern United States, I think of VA, NC, SC, GA, MS, AL, LA, TX, and FL. I never thought of KY as being a state a part of the south. Although its geographical location demonstrate it being relatively close to being in the south, I always thought of KY being a Midwest because of the weather similarities with states that are located in the Midwest.

This map is a map of the p.o.v. of a surveyed group stating what they think the south is. They answered with suprising accuracy overall with some outliers. This map shows the stereotypes of the area that people deem it.

This relates to unit 1 because it shows a perceptual map of an area that isn't truly defined. This is a perceptual map because of its undefined borders and a level of accuracy at the personal level.

This concept is used to favor certain political parties in certain areas. There are rules like the ditrict has to be all connected but they can manipulate the redrawing to make it that a certain party still wins that district.

"Over the course of human history, thousands of languages have developed from what was once a much smaller number. How did we end up with so many? And how do we keep track of them all? Alex Gendler explains how linguists group languages into language families, demonstrating how these linguistic trees give us crucial insights into the past."

Summary- This video explains how so many languages came to be and why. By the early existence of human there was a such smaller variety of languages. Tribes that spoke one language would often split in search of new recourses. Searching tribe would develop in many new different ways than the original tribe. new foods, land, and other elements created a radically different language than the original.

Insight- In unit 3 we study language as a big element of out chapter. One key question in chapter 6 was why are languages distributed the way they are. It is obvious from the video that languages are distributed they way they are is because of the breaking up from people which forced people to develop differently thus creating a different language. As this process continues, there become more and more branches of a language family.

Without a question, we are living in an urban era. More people now live in cities than anywhere else on the planet and I’ve repeatedly argued that cities are our most important economic engine. As a result of these shifts, we’re seeing megacities at a scale the world has never seen before.

Maps are always changing as a new nation gets added and old lines cease to make sense. Territory is claimed and reclaimed. This series of seven articles in the New York Times explores regional examples of how borders impacts places from a variety of scholarly perspectives. Together, these article challenge student to reconsider the world map and to conceptualize conflicts within a spatial context.

While this doesn't say everything about the state of cultural politics in the United States, it does lay out some of the more ideologically charged debates in the new political landscape after the midterm elections. What does this Venn diagram say about the state of cultural politics in your state? The Courts have aided the push for same sex marriages; will that also occur for marijuana legalization?

I thought that this game was really useful for getting to know all different aspects of Europe. I really like how it was separated into a variety of different categories that focused on different things in Europe. Of course I was familiar with the countries category. Some things that I was not familiar with before finding this game was all the bodies of water in Europe. I am now aware of the different lakes, seas, and rivers in Europe. I thought it was really cool how it went into some real detail and included aspects like the ports, volcanoes, monarchies, and the battles. I definitely was not aware with any of these before seeing this game. I think this is a very useful game if you wish to know more about Europe or maybe even if you're traveling there and want to get some background knowledge.

An absolutely great and fun way to learn and explore different geographic locations. Anytime learning can be made fun or turned into a game is always a win-win. I found myself screwing around with these mini games and before I knew it, 45 minutes had passed, and I was not as good at Geography as I thought I was. I will be back to play/learn more!

This is an interesting way to learn geography in a more interactive way. This link provides many different games that allow you to not only play a game but learn while you do it! These games can test capitals, rivers, monarchies, countries, regions, peninsulas, battles, etc. All of these relate to Europe and can provide different learning techniques for anyone who is interested in them.

I think the term 'artificial' in the image might be misleading and it depends on your definition of the word. Humans have been selectively breed plants and animals for as long as we've been able to domestic them; that is a 'natural' part of our cultural ecology and has lead to great varieties of crops that are much more suitable for human consumption than what was naturally available. Long before climate change, humans have been actively shaping their environment and the ecological inputs in the systems with the technology that their disposal. This is a good resource to teach about the 1st agricultural revolution.

This article shows how crops were entirely different 8,000 years ago. It shows how much we have breeded and affected the natural crops. With the example of peaches, watermelons, and corn, the article shows how the natural crop didn't taste as good and was a lot smaller. The natural peach had 64% edible food; whereas the 2014 peach had 90% edible food. The pictures comparing the natural and artificial crops also illustrated how the many varieties of that specific crop had grown and where the crop is found has grown. Lastly, the diagrams compares the water and sugar percentages. This article paints a good picture as to how much mankind has affected our land and agriculture. Also, how much our crops have changed due to selective breeding.

The article gives a good illustration of topics in Unit 5: Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land Use. The article shows how selective breeding has affected many crops. It gives a good view as to how selective breeding and agriculture has been affected and changed in the Neolithic Agriculture Revolution. The article explains what what life was like and how it changed in the Neolithic times. This article is really interesting in showing how crops were changed.

A. 60% of all households without toilets in the world are in India.B. India’s Muslims are less affected by the sanitation problem than Hindus.C. India’s lack of toilets is worse than China’s.D. Lack of toilets in India puts women at especially high risk.

These statements are true but still hard to believe. Showcases how technology can expand too rapidly and benefit the rich and leave the poor to live in squalor. How is it remotely possible to have more cell phones than toilets? This country can build out a network comprising of towers, service, and IT support, but can't provide basic, humane services to prevent disease and give the people decent living standards. Lack of sanitation can and will destroy the people who can least afford it. Politically, India needs to re-examine its priorities and start to provide basic needs to its people. Here's hoping they do just that....

It astounds me that part of the problem is actually due to a way of living and not completely due to poverty. When I was reading this, I just thought that as an under developed country the government hadn’t regulated indoor plumbing yet. However given the practice of the Hindus, the issue seems to be that fact this this religious group doesn’t believe in “defecting” near their home. I would suggest that the government provide some sort of sanitary public bathrooms, but as a developing country the money probably just isn’t there. Since the actions of this religious group is actually causing great harm and is demonstrable documented, I also think there should be some sort of educational outreach. I am not sure if the Hindus would change their mind right away, but I prefer to think that religions can change their practices as times modernize and I only suggest this because it is harming so many people.

I was also intrigued by the affect this problem has on women. I actually couldn’t figure out why women would be more affected by the phenomena until the author actually spelled out that women could be attacked at night. The notion actually seems a little foreign to me even still because the rules in my house hold growing up were that I had to have someone accompanying me if I went too far from my house. Actually, even now my parents will still lecture me if I am walking alone after daylight in a busy city like Boston or Providence. I could only imagine that my parents would have just made me wake someone up before I go to the bathroom at night. I know that whatever the geographic location, women are typically an easier target to attack. It just amazes me that families in India would allow their children (especially female children) to venture out alone. Clearly, there is a cultural difference in regards to protecting women and children that I was unaware of before this article.

Just by reading the four possible answers to the question " Which statement is true?" I was horrified to even thing about should horrible living conditions.

Once I opened the page I read in depth about each possible answer, in this case all the answers are true statements.mThe fact that their is a toilet problem can cause more deaths and illnesses in families because as the passage states "people defecate in fields and other places where poor children also play." This gross act can cause children likely problems as one could guess. India all around has a bad sanitary problem even worse than China.

From statement D, there was a statement saying " Because 130 million of India’s households lack toilets, women and girls often have no other option than to venture out — often at night and alone — to relieve themselves." The fact that women get raped and hurt during times to "relieve" themselves is just horrible to think about! The fact that people who live in India must endure such tortuous conditions just to do a daily task that everyone does due to the poverty level and how low the development is in India.

"Don’t let my New York City–centric comparisons hinder your imagination. The interactive at the top of this page lets you visualize how different parts of the country compare in population density.

Click the button at the bottom of the interactive to select Los Angeles County, for instance, and then click anywhere on the map to generate a (roughly) circular region of (roughly) equal population. The population data come from the 2010 census, and the square mileage was calculated by summing each highlighted county’s total area. You can also use New Jersey (the most densely populated state), Wyoming (the least densely populated state outside of Alaska), Texas, the coasts (the group of all counties that come within 35 miles of either the Atlantic or Pacific oceans), and, yes, New York City as the baseline for your population comparison."

This map is interesting in that flyover states is something that is not easily defined, at least by me. You could argue that no state is a flyover state because of the industry and businesses within the state itself. I am also curious to know why so few folks live in these areas as I have been to most of these places and they have the social and environmental pull factors important to migration.

Which countries consume the most electricity per person? You might guess the United States would top the World Bank’s list, but the Nordic countries of Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden are actually at or near the top. Icelanders consume an average of 52,374 kilowatt hours per person per year, Norwegians 23,174 kilowatt hours, Finns 15,738 kilowatt hours, and Swedes 14,030 kilowatt hours. Americans are not far behind, with an average consumption of 13,246 kilowatt hours per person. The Japanese consume 7,848 kilowatt hours.

This image is part of a global composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite in 2012. The nighttime view of Earth was made possible by the “day-night band” of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, wildfires, and gas flares. The city lights of several major Nordic cities are visible in the imagery, including Stockholm, Sweden (population 905,184); Oslo, Norway (634,463); Helsinki, Finland (614,074), and Reykjavik, Iceland (121,490).

Surprisingly, Scandinavian countries have the highest rates of electricity consumption in the world. While this may seem to be a negative factor, most of the countries seem to be okay with higher consumption rates because most of the their energy production is based on renewable sources and have minimal environmental impacts. The countries can also justify the higher consumption because of the more extreme climate and weather conditions require more heat and energy that other places. While satellites can detect that the Scandinavian countries are using more electricity than their neighbors, they are able to justify the need and their methods to get and use their energy.

It is not surprising to me that these countries, or any country that resides in a high latitude area, have high usage of electricity. The combination of extreme cold temperatures and times of meager amounts of daylight equal high uses of energy. High populations of these areas tend to be around the coast as well, so these areas have to work extra hard to keep people warm, fed, etc. If people were more spread out, the usage might not be as high.

This articles discusses which countries use the most electricity and believe it or not, the Nordic countries are at the top of the list. It shows two satellite images in the nighttime for you to get a better visual as to which areas of these countries use the most electricity. There are multiple factors that go into these countries consuming this much energy. One factor that is interesting is the high demand for electricity because of the long winters in these countries.

"Spatial analysis has always been a hallmark of GIS, the 'numerical recipes' which set GIS apart from other forms of computerized visualization and information management. With GIS we pose questions and derive results using a wide array of analytical tools to help us understand and compare places, determine how places are related, find the best locations and paths, detect and quantify patterns, and even to make spatial predictions."

GIS is a key tool in spatial analysis, but it can also be a driving force in using math, science, technology and (yes) geography as interdisciplinary ways of teaching the curriculum. StoryMaps can be rich with images and videos, but also filled with data at a variety of scales. What stories can you tell in this rich, visual format? What visual template shown might lend itself best for that sort of project?

This list attempts to pinpoint the 10 safest countries in the world by analyzing the Global Peace Index, or GPI, of each country, taking into consideration homicide rates, levels of violent crime, nuclear capabilities and more.

The concept of a political boundary has been developed over many many years into an unbreakable line between two different sets of people with different ideologies, religions, and government styles. The boundary extends into the ground, into the air, and includes any resources within the boundary. These pictures show the different shapes and various lines between countries, and displays the intricacies of boundaries in the world.

In AP Human Geo., this relates to the concept of land use patterns. As certain countries practice deforestation, slash-and-burn and other land use types, bordering countries may take a completely indifferent approach to the land and thus create a contrast.

Photographs show how different countries can be even by just the border. Number 3 really stuck out to me that Haiti doesnt have as many regulation reguarding deforestation as the Dominican Republic and its very noticable.

This is a big announcement from ESRI, home of ArcGIS online and other geospatial tools. They are making ArcGIS online organizational accounts free for all K-12 schools in the United States. As ESRI spokespeople have said, "this will open up ArcGIS Online far beyond just a public account, by permitting more control of sharing, access to more data, engaging much more powerful analyses, supporting apps like Collector or Explorer, integrating with ArcMap and Microsoft Office, enabling login to Community Analyst, and lots more, with still more on the way." Click here to request an organizational account for your school.

I scooped this from Seth Dixon's site.. This is his insight.Seth Dixon's insight:

This is a big announcement from ESRI, home of ArcGIS online and other geospatial tools. They are making ArcGIS online organizational accounts free for all K-12 schools in the United States. As ESRI spokespeople have said, "this will open up ArcGIS Online far beyond just a public account, by permitting more control of sharing, access to more data, engaging much more powerful analyses, supporting apps like Collector or Explorer, integrating with ArcMap and Microsoft Office, enabling login to Community Analyst, and lots more, with still more on the way." Click here to request an organizational account for your school.

"Unfortunately, most world political maps aren't telling you the whole story. The idea that the earth's land is cleanly divvied up into nation-states - one country for each of the world's peoples - is more an imaginative ideal than a reality. Read on to learn about five ways your map is lying to you about borders, territories, and even the roster of the world's countries."

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